SXSW: The Canadians Who Took Over Texas

Once upon a time, the term "Canadian music" was, for many Americans, a joke, delivered by Celine Dion, punchlined by Bryan Adams, and wrapped in a Loverboy headband. But like our socialized healthcare system, legal gay marriages, generous artist grants and 6-per-cent-alcohol beer, Canada's musical output has become a coveted commodity over the past 10 years, and South by Southwest has played a big part in boosting its market value. Here's a list of five proud Canadian moments at SXSW that made us feel a little less self-conscious about saying "aboot" aloud in Austin.

1. The New Pornographers at La Zona Rosa, 2001: The Vancouver power-pop ensemble's delightful 2000 debut, Mass Romantic, had already started to redirect the collective gaze of U.S. critics north of the border, but at their debut SXSW performance, the Pornos got all the validation they needed: an impromptu guest cameo from Ray Davies, who was serving as the festival's keynote speaker that year. Following an introduction from a visibly awestruck Neko Case, Davies sauntered onstage to perform the Kinks' 1968 nugget "Starstruck," a moment that must've as humbling for Davies as his younger charges-given that Pornos frontman Carl Newman seemed to know the lyrics better than the man who wrote them.

2. The Constantines at B.D. Riley's, 2002: One of the most hotly tipped live acts in Toronto at the time, the Constantines had harnessed their considerable onstage vigor playing all manner of DIY venues, from basement house parties to Jewish community centers. But the B.D. Riley's stage presented a unique set of challenges, given that its tiny, elevated window-front area seemed more accustomed to solo-acoustic folksinger acts than five-piece powerhouse rock bands. To make matters more awkward, singer/guitarist Bry Webb's amp crapped out during the first song. But rather than let that setback derail the show, the band embraced the chaos-Webb dropped his guitar, grabbed the mic and transformed the pub into his pulpit, hurtling himself out of the venue's open street-front window to deliver the Cons' soul-punk salvos to a growing congregration of onlookers on Sixth Street. Shortly thereafter, the band was signed to Sub Pop, laying the foundation for the nascent nu-Springsteen movement.

3. Broken Social Scene at Momo's (2003) and Stubb's (2004): The Momo's show was one of Broken Social Scene's first U.S. dates after a rave review from Pitchfork had introduced the band's 2002 album, You Forgot It In People, to the American indie-rock nation at large. So naturally the small, second-floor room was packed with curious journalists and dignitaries, including Creation Records poobah Alan McGee and future BSS collaborator Scott Kannberg of Pavement (though, years later, Kannberg admitted to me in an interview that he had just been dragged to the show by a friend and wasn't really paying attention). If BSS's rapturously received Momo's set sowed the seeds for their U.S. success - earning them their American publicity team and booking agent - the band's subsequent SXSW visit to a packed Stubb's brought it to fruition. While Broken Social Scene have become synonymous with sprawl – both in terms of their expansive membership and three-hour long concerts - the band are arguably at their greatest when forced to focus their energies into a 45-minute showcase, and with You Forgot It in People at that point firmly ingrained into the psyche of undergraduates everywhere, BSS's triumphant Stubb's stand transformed their imagined anthems into a genuine greatest-hits revue. The next morning, the band made the cover of the Austin Chronicle, effectively confirming the coronation.

4. Feist at Levi's/FADER party (2005): Feist's only SXSW visit to date wasn't even an official one-in 2005, she played two, hastily arranged afternoon showcases at the behest of her prospective U.S. benefactors, Cherry Tree/Interscope, the second of which was held at the Levi's house on Sixth Street on a gloomy Saturday afternoon. Though she performed solo with just an electric guitar and loop pedal, Feist was the beneficiary of a special effect no major-label budget could buy: just as she raised her arms to punctuate a sustained high note on "The Water," a powerful gust of wind shot through the backyard venue and threatened to take the tented stage with it; the subsequent closing cover of Nina Simone's "Sea-Lion Woman" was then accompanied by a torrential downpour. Needless to say, she passed the audition.

5. F---ed Up at Red 7 (2007): Like the New Pornographers' Ray Davies dalliance six years earlier, this noontime set represented more than a mere showcase for the Toronto hardcore insurgents, but a symbolic passing of the torch. For their final song, Fucked Up were joined by ex-Black Flag belter Keith Morris for a blitzkrieg charge through the Flag's 1978 classic "Nervous Breakdown," proving that 12:30 is not too early for a circle pit. (Among the moshers was another approving elder statesman: Sloan singer/bassist Chris Murphy, who at least had the good sense to take his glasses off first before diving in.)

Stuart Berman is an editor at Toronto's Eye Weekly, a reviewer for Pitchfork and the author of 'This Book Is Broken: A Broken Social Scene Story.' Excerpted from the book 'SXSW Scrapbook: People and Things that Went Before' (Essex Press/University of Texas Press).'